


Divergent

by scarlet_natsume (Scarlet_Natsume)



Series: Crossing the World [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Adventure, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-09
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 12:26:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2428742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlet_Natsume/pseuds/scarlet_natsume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Himuro Taiga lived in society that divided into five distinct factions, and now was the time for him to establish it. But there was something strange happened in his aptitude tests which resulted him was not only have one but three status. He was something taboo that they called a Divergent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

The tests began after lunch. Himuro Taiga sat at the long tables in the school cafeteria, and the test administrators call ten names at a time, one for each testing room. He sat next his brother, Tatsuya, watching him chatting with Kazunari who sat across him.

He and his brother did not look alike. Taiga was fierce while Tatsuya was a soft-spoken person. He had maroon hair, as his brother was black haired. Between his family, Taiga was the odd one. He was born into a Yosen family, but he did not feel like he belongs in Yosen. Not like his brother, Taiga did not see himself as naturally selfless.

Since forever, the society divided its residence into five factions based on their dispositions.  **Yosen** , for the selfless.  **Shuutoku** , for the peaceful.  **Kaijou** , for the honest. **Seirin** , for the brave. And  **Rakuzan** , for the intellectual.

Himuro family was a Yosen, but Taiga always felt wrong with his status as a Yosen, so unlike Tatsuya who inherited their mother's talent for selflessness.

And today, he was going through aptitude tests to define where he would belong.

The test administrators were mostly Yosen volunteers, although there was a Rakuzan in one of the testing rooms and a Seirin in another to test those of them from Yosen, because the rules state that they could not be tested by someone from their own faction. The rules also said that they could not prepare for the test in any way, so he did not know what to expect.

Taiga's gaze drifted from Tatsuya to the Seirin tables across the room. They were laughing and shouting and playing cards. At another set of tables, the Rakuzan chattered over books and newspapers, in constant pursuit of knowledge.

A group of Shuutoku girls in yellow and red sat in a circle on the cafeteria floor, playing some kind of hand-slapping game involving a rhyming song. Every few minutes he heard a chorus of laughter from them as someone is eliminated and has to sit in the center of the circle. At the table next to them, Kaijou boys made wide gestures with their hands. They appeared to be arguing about something, but it must not be serious, because some of them are still smiling.

At the Yosen table, they sat quietly and wait. Faction customs dictated even idle behavior and supersede individual preference. Taiga doubted all the Rakuzan want to study all the time, or that every Kaijou enjoys a lively debate, but they could not defy the norms of their factions any more than he can.

Tatsuya's name was called in the next group. He moved confidently toward the exit. Taiga did not need to wish him luck or assure him that he shouldn't be nervous. He knew where he belongs, and as far as Taiga knew, he always has. Taiga's earliest memory of him was from when they were five years old. His bother scolded him for not giving his basketball to a little boy on the playground who did not have anything to play with. Tatsuya did not lecture him often anymore, but Taiga had his brother's look of disapproval memorized. Taiga had tried to explain to his brother that his instincts were not the same as his, but Tatsuya did not understand.

His stomach wrenched. He closed his eyes and kept them closed until ten minutes later, when Tatsuya sat down again.

His brother looked plaster-pale. He pushed his palms along his legs like Taiga did when he wiped off sweat, and when he brought them back, his fingers shook. Taiga opened his mouth to ask him something, but the words did not come. He was not allowed to ask his brother –or anyone- about the tests results, and Tatsuya was not allowed to tell him.

A Yosen volunteer spoke the next round of names. Two from Seirin, two from Rakuzan, two from Shuutoku, two from Kaijou, and then: "From Yosen: Takao Kazunari and Himuro Taiga."

Taiga got up because he was supposed to, but if it were up to him, he would stay in his seat for the rest of time. He felt like there was a bubble in his chest that expands more by the second, threatening to break him apart from the inside. He followed Kazunari to the exit.

Waiting for them outside the cafeteria was a row of ten rooms. They were used only for the aptitude tests, so Taiga had never been in one before. Unlike the other rooms in the school, they were separated, not by glass, but by mirrors. He watched himself, grinning nervously as he walking toward one of the doors. Kazunari slapped his back painfully before he walked into room 5, and Taiga walked into room 6, where a Seirin woman waited for him.

She was not as severe-looking as the young Seirin he had seen. She had wide, looking cheerful, green eyes and wore a black blazer—like a man's suit—and jeans, her blond hair was tied into a bun. Probably the woman was too beautiful for a Seirin. It was only when she turned to close the door that he saw a tattoo on the back of her neck, a black-and- white hawk with a red eye. If he did not feel like his heart had migrated to his throat, he would ask her what it signifies. It must signify something.

Mirrors covered the inner walls of the room. He could see his reflection from all angles: the gray fabric obscuring the shape of his back, his long neck, his knuckled hands, red with a blood blush. The ceiling glowed white with light. In the center of the room was a reclined chair, like a dentist's, with a machine next to it. It looks like a place where terrible things happen.

"Well, well, you look like shit," the woman said in a teasing tone. "Don't be afraid, it doesn't hurt."

"I'm not afraid." Taiga grumbled.

The woman chuckled as she continued doing what she did. "Here, have a seat and get comfortable," she said, patting the chair. "Oh, and my name is Alexandra Garcia. You can call me 'Alex'."

Clumsily, he sat in the chair and reclined, putting his head on the headrest. The lights hurt his eyes. He glanced sideway, seeing Alex busied herself with the machine on his right. Twitching, he tried to focus on her and not the wires in her hands.

"Why the hawk?" he blurted out as she attached an electrode to his forehead.

Alex looked at him in intrigued. "Never met a curious Yosen before," she said, raising her eyebrow at him.

He shivered, and goose bumps appeared on his arms. His curiosity was a mistake, a betrayal of Yosen values. Humming a little, she presses another electrode to his forehead and explains. "In some parts of the ancient world, the hawk symbolized the sun. Back when I got this, I figured if I always had the sun on me, I wouldn't be afraid of the dark."

He tried to stop himself from asking another question, but he could not help it. "You're afraid of the dark?"

"I  _was_  afraid of the dark," she corrected him. She pressed the next electrode to her own forehead, and attached a wire to it. "Now it reminds me of the fear I've overcome." She shrugged.

She stood behind him. He squeezed the armrests so tightly the redness pulled away from his knuckles. She tugged wires toward her, attaching them to him, to her, to the machine behind her. Then she passed him a vial of clear liquid.

"Drink this," she said.

"What is it?" His throat felt swollen. He swallowed hard. "What's going to happen?"

"Can't tell you that. Just trust me."

He pressed air from his lungs and tipped the contents of the vial into his mouth.

And he closed his eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

His eyes snapped open, and instantly aware that he was no longer in the test room. He was somewhere else. He stood in the school cafeteria again, but all the long tables were empty, and he saw through the glass walls that it was snowing. On the table in front of him were two baskets. In one was a hunk of meat, and in the other, a knife the length of his forearm.

He nearly jumped in surprise when a man's voice was heard from his behind. "Choose."

He blinked. "Why?" he asked.

"Choose," the man repeated.

He looked over his shoulder, but no one was there. He turned back to the baskets. "What will I do with them?"

"Choose!" the man yelled.

Now, the fear in him disappeared and stubbornness replaced it. He did not like being told with no reason. He scowled and crossed his arms.

After a long, oppressive, silence, the man finally broke it. "Have it your way," the man said.

The baskets disappeared. He heard a door squeak and turned to see who it was. He saw not a "who" but a "what": A dog with a pointed nose stands a few yards away from him. He stared at it in horror.

And the dog was looked so pissed.

He whimpered.

God damn it! It revived his worst memory!

He scared of dogs! Especially the feral one!

To his dismay, it crouched low and crept toward him, its lips peeling back from its white teeth. A growl gurgled from deep in its throat, and he now could see why the meat would have come in handy. Or the knife. But it was too late now.

He slowly stepped backward. He thought about running, but he knew that his legs too wobbly to run faster than the dog. And he was too afraid to wrestle it to the ground. His head pounded. He had to make a decision. If he could jump over one of the tables and use it as a shield… no, the tables' leg were bolted tightly to the floor, and he was not strong enough to pulled it forcefully.

His breath hitched when the dog snarled. He could almost feel the sound vibrating in his skull.

He read once –in his rare moments– in his biology textbook said that dogs could smell fear because of a chemical secreted by human glands in a state of duress, the same chemical a dog's prey secretes. Smelling fear led them to attack. The dog inched toward him, its nails scraping the floor.

He could not run. He could not fight. Instead he breathed in the smell of the dog's foul breath and tried not to think about what it just ate. Or about itself at all. There were no whites in its eyes, just a black gleam.

What else did he know about dogs? He should not look it in the eye. That was a sign of aggression. It came closer, still growling. If staring into its eyes was a sign of aggression, what was a sign of submission?

His breaths were loud but steady. He sank to his knees. The last thing he wanted to do was lie down on the ground in front of the monster… er… dog that making its teeth level with his face, but it's the best option he had. He stretched his legs out behind him and leaned on his elbows. The dog crept closer, and closer, until he felt its warm breath on his face. His arms were shaking.

It barked in his ear, and he clenched his teeth to keep from screaming.

Something rough and wet touched his cheek. The dog's growling stopped. He lifted his head to look at it again, it was panting. He shivered when it licked his face. He frowned and sat on his heels. The dog propped its paws up on his knees and licked his chin. He cringed, wiping the drool from his skin, and chuckled nervously as, still fearfully, stroked its fur.

"You're not such a vicious beast, huh?"

He blinked, and when his eyes opened, a child stood across the room wearing a white dress. She stretched out both hands and squeals.

"Puppy!"

As she ran toward the dog on his lap, he opened his mouth to warn her, but he was too late. The dog turns. Instead of growling, it barked and snarled and snapped, and its muscles bunched up like coiled wire. About to pounce. He did not think, he did not remember his fear, he just jump. He hurled his body on top of the dog, wrapping his arms around its thick neck.

His head hit the ground. The dog was gone, and so was the little girl. Instead he was alone —in the testing room, now empty. He turned in a slow circle and could not see himself in any of the mirrors. He pushed the door open and walked into the hallway, but it was not a hallway; it was a bus, and all the seats were taken.

He stood in the aisle and hold on to a pole. Sitting near him was a man with a newspaper. He could not see his face over the top of the paper, but he could see his hands. They were scarred, like the man was burned, and they clenched around the paper like he wanted to crumple it.

"Do you know this guy?" the man asked, tapping the picture on the front page of the newspaper. The headline read: "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!"

He stared at the word 'murderer'. It had been a long time since he last read that word, but even its shape filled him with dread.

In the picture beneath the headline was a young man with a plain face and a beard. He cocked his head, feeling like he did know him, though he did not remember how. And at the same time, he felt like it would be a bad idea to tell the man that.

"Well?" he heard anger in the man's voice. "Do you?"

Yep, it was a bad idea. A very bad idea. He blinked, clutching the pole to keep his hands from shaking, from giving him away. If he told him he knew the man from the article, his instinct could feel that something awful would happen to him.

He cleared his throat.

"Do you?" the man repeated.

He shrugged his shoulder.

"Well?"

He twitched. He did not know why the man creeps him much. "Nope," he said casually. "No idea who he is."

The man stood, and he finally could see his face. The man wore dark sunglasses and his mouth was bent into a snarl, his cheek was rippled with scars, like his hands. The man leaned close, his breath smells like cigarettes.

The man was like a scary yakuza boss.

' _It's not real,_ ' he reminded himself.  _'Not real at all.'_

"You're lying," the man said. "You're lying!"

"I am not."

"I can see it in your eyes."

He pulled himself up straighter. "You can't."

"If you know him," the man said in a low voice, "you could save me. You could save me!"

He narrowed his eyes. What the heck did this crazy man mean? "Well," he said, his face hardened. "I don't."

 

* * *

 

He woke to sweaty palms and a pang of guilt in his chest. He was lying in the chair in the mirrored room. He tilted his head back, saw Alex behind him. She pinched her lips together and removed electrode from their heads. Her cheerful face was now serious. He waited for her to say something about the test. Anything, like "it was over" or "you did well, although how could you do poorly on a test like this?". But she said nothing, just pulled the wires from his forehead.

The silence stretched for uncounted long. He sat forward and wiped his palms off on his slacks. Had he done something wrong? Alex gave him that strange look and it began creep him out.

"That," she finally said, "was perplexing. Excuse me, I'll be right back."

He blinked as he stared at her leaving the room in confusion.

Perplexing?

He scratched the back of his head, feeling more nervous as the time passed. He had to wipe off his hands every few minutes as the sweat collected. What if they tell him that he was not cut out for any faction? He would have to live on the streets, with the factionless. He could not do that. To live factionless was not just to live in poverty and discomfort, it was to live divorced from society, separated from the most important thing in life: community.

His mother told him once that he could not survive alone, but even if they could, they would not want to. Without a faction, they had no purpose and no reason to live. He shook his head. He could not think like this. He had to stay calm.

Finally the door opened, and Alex walked back in. He gripped the arms of the chair.

"Sorry to worry you~!" Alex said, cheerfully. She stood by his feet with her hands in her pockets. A wide smile spread on her face, but he still could see behind it she looked tense and pale.

"Taiga, your results were… inconclusive." She said, made a dramatic pause. "Typically, each stage of the simulation eliminates one or more of the factions, but in your case, only two have been ruled out."

He stared at her. "Two?" he asked in disbelief. His throat was so tight it was hard to talk.

"If you had shown an automatic distaste for the knife and selected the meat, the simulation would have led you to a different scenario that confirmed your aptitude for Shuutoku. That didn't happen, which is why Shuutoku is out." Alex scratched the back of her neck. "Normally, the simulation progresses in a linear fashion, isolating one faction by ruling out the rest. The choices you made didn't even allow Kaijou, the next possibility, to be ruled out, so I had to alter the simulation to put you on the bus. And there your insistence upon dishonesty ruled out Kaijou." She half smiled. "Don't worry about that. Only the Kaijou tell the truth in that one."

One of the knots in his chest loosened. Maybe he was not an awful person.

"I suppose that's not entirely true. People who tell the truth are the Kaijou… and the Yosen." She said. "Which gives us a problem."

His mouth fell open.

"On the one hand, you threw yourself on the dog rather than let it attack the little girl, which is a Yosen-oriented response… but on the other, when the man told you that the truth would save him, you still refused to tell it. Not a Yosen-oriented response." She sighed. "Not running from the dog suggests Seirin, but so does taking the knife, which you didn't do."

She cleared her throat and continued. "Your intelligent response to the dog indicates strong alignment with the Rakuzan. I have no idea what to make of your indecision in stage one, but—"

"Wait," he interrupted her. "So you have no idea what my aptitude is?"

"Well, yes and no." She explained. "My conclusion is that you display equal aptitude for Yosen, Seirin, and Rakuzan. People who get this kind of result are…" She looked over her shoulder like she expected someone to appear behind her. "…are called…  _Divergent_." She said the last word so quietly that he almost did not hear it, and her tense, worried look returned. She walked around the side of the chair and leaned in close to him.

"Taiga," she hissed. "Under no circumstances should you share that information with anyone. This is very important."

"We aren't supposed to share our results." He nodded. "I know that."

"No." Alex kneeled next to the chair now and placed her arms on the armrest. Their faces were inches apart. "This is different. I don't mean you shouldn't share them now; I mean you should never share them with anyone, ever, no matter what happens. Divergence is extremely dangerous. You understand?"

He furrowed. He did not understand—how could inconclusive test results be dangerous?—but he still nod. He did not want to share his test results with anyone anyway.

"Okay." He peeled his hands from the arms of the chair and stood. He felt unsteady.

"I suggest," Alex said, her cheerful face was back, "that you go home. You have a lot of thinking to do, and waiting with the others may not benefit you."

"I have to tell Tatsuya where I'm going."

"No worries, I'll let him know."

He touched his forehead as he walked out of the room. It was confusing, and overwhelming too. So, he was not only had one but three statuses. He groaned loudly, ignoring the curious glances he was getting from other initiates. Fuck, it was getting more and more troublesome. He could not bear to think about the Choosing Ceremony tomorrow.

It was his choice now, no matter what the test said.

Yosen. Seirin. Rakuzan.

Divergent.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, I decide to prolong this story. You know, the KnBxDivergent crossover story in my fic, Crossing the World.
> 
> The Divergent story concept made me intrigued, and I itching to made a KnB fic based on it. So, here the story.
> 
> And I change a few things in the story, like:  
> Seirin => Dauntless. (because Seirin is iron heart, never let anything scare them and never give up)  
> Rakuzan => Erudite (because Rakuzan is excel and accomplished in studies)  
> Yosen => Abnegation (well, I myself don't know why I made Yosen as Abnegation  
> Kaijou => Candor (because… look Kise)  
> Shuutoku => Amity (because despite the awkwardness between Shuutoku and Midorima, they still look more peaceful than any teams)


	2. Chapter 2

 

The bus he and his family took to get to the Choosing Ceremony was full of people in purple shirts and purple slacks. A pale ring of sunlight burned into the clouds outside like the end of a lit cigarette. He tilted his head back to see the top of the Hub –the building where the Choosing Ceremony was held– and even then, part of it disappeared into the clouds. It is the tallest building in the city. He even could see the lights on the two prongs on its roof from his own bedroom window.

The bus stopped. He followed his parents off the bus. His brother seemed calm, so would Taiga, if he knew what he was going to do. Instead he got the distinct impression that his heart would burst out of his chest any minute now.

The elevator was crowded, so his father volunteered to give a cluster of Shuutoku their place. They climbed the stairs instead, following his father unquestioningly. They set an example for their fellow faction members, and soon the three of them were engulfed in the mass of purple fabric ascending cement stairs in the half light. He settled into their place. The uniform pounding of feet in his ears and the homogeneity of the people around him made him believe that he could choose this. He could be subsumed into Yosen's hive mind, projecting always outward.

He groaned softly as he stared upward the endless stairs. They had to climb twenty flights of stairs to get to the Choosing Ceremony. His legs were getting sore, struggling to breathe.

His father held the door open on the twentieth floor and stood like a sentry as every Yosen walked past him. Taiga would wait for him, but the crowd passed him forward, out of the stairwell and into the room where he would decide the rest of his life.

The room was arranged in concentric circles. On the edge stood the sixteen-year-olds of every faction. They and Taiga were not called members yet, their decisions today would make them initiates, and they would become members if they completed initiation.

They arranged themselves in alphabetical order, according to the last names they might leave behind today. Taiga stood between Tatsuya and a Shuutoku girl with rosy cheeks and an orange dress.

The responsibility to conduct the ceremony rotated from faction to faction each year, and this year was Yosen's. The Yosen leader would give the opening address and read the names in reverse alphabetical order. Tatsuya would choose before him.

In the last circle were five metal bowls so large they could hold his entire body, if he curled up. Each one contained a substance that represented each faction: stones for Yosen, water for Rakuzan, earth for Shuutoku, lit coals for Seirin, and glass for Kaijou.

When the leader called his name, Taiga would walk to the center of the three circles. He would not speak. The leader would offer him a knife, he would cut into his hand and sprinkle his blood into the bowl of the faction he choose.

His blood on the stones. His blood sizzling on the coals. Because the water was out as he did not want to involve anything with Rakuzan.

Before his parents sat down, they stood in front of Tatsuya and him. His mother kissed his forehead as Father clapped Tatsuya on the shoulder, grinning.

"See you soon," their father said. Without a trace of doubt.

And when Mother hugged him, the little resolve Taiga had left almost broke. He clenched his jaw and stared up at the ceiling, where globe lanterns hung and filled the room with blue light. She pulled away, she turned her head and whispered in his ear. "I love you. No matter what."

He blinked and frowned at her back as she walked away. It couldn't be. Was his mother knew what he might do?

Tatsuya grabbed his brother's arm, squeezing it so tightly it hurt. Taiga turned his head slightly toward him with a confused look.

"Taiga," Tatsuya said, looking sternly into his brother's eyes. "We should think of our family." There was an edge to his voice. "But… but we must also think of ourselves."

Taiga stiffened at that, so startled by his brother's comment. "The tests don't have to change our choice, right?" he said carefully, not sure why his brother said that.

Tatsuya smiled a little. "Don't they, though?"

He squeeze Taiga's arm once more and walked toward his seat. Taiga stared at him with a confusion look. Taiga had never seen his brother think of himself, never heard him insist on anything but selflessness.

' _What the heck is going on with him?'_  Taiga thought, slowly sitting on his seat.

The room came to order. Taiga's eyes were moving to look his surrounding. He should be observing the Seirin, he should be taking in as much information as he could, but he could only stare at the lanterns across the room. He tried to lose himself in the blue glow.

One of Yosen leaders, a beautiful black haired woman named Masako Araki, stood at the podium between the Rakuzan and the Seirin and cleared her throat into the microphone. "Welcome." she said. "Welcome to the Choosing Ceremony. Welcome to the day we honor the democratic philosophy of our ancestors, which tells us that every man has the right to choose his own way in this world…"

Taiga closed his eyes and muffled the rest of the speech, inhaling deeply. He opened them again, shifting to the bowls in the center of the room. What did he believe? He did not know. What did he should choose? He did not sure.

He saw the Shuutoku exchanged smiles. They were dressed comfortably, in orange or white. Every time he looked at them, they seemed kind, loving, free. But joining them had never been an option for him.

He moved his eyes toward the faction beside them. Rakuzan. Ruling out them was the only part of his choice that was easy.

And then Kaijou. He never liked Kaijou.

He looked down at his own faction. Yosen also did not felt right for him anymore than Shuutoku. He was not selfless enough for the faction.

And for Seirin…

His legs went numb, like all the life had gone out of them, and he wondered how he would walk when his name was called.

"Working together, these five factions have lived in peace for many years, each contributing to a different sector of society." The Yosen Leader's voice was like a trial for him. "Yosen has fulfilled our need for selfless leaders in government. Kaijou has provided us with trustworthy and sound leaders in law. Rakuzan has supplied us with intelligent teachers and researchers. Shuutoku has given us understanding counselors and caretakers. And Seirin provides us with protection from threats both within and without. But the reach of each faction is not limited to these areas. We give one another far more than can be adequately summarized. In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life."

Taiga remembered the motto he read in his Faction History textbook.  _ **Faction before blood**_. More than family, their factions were where they belong. Could that possibly be right?

Masako added. "Apart from them, we would not survive."

The silence that followed his words was heavier than other silences. It was heavy with their worst fear, greater even than the fear of death: to be factionless. Masako continued. "Therefore this day marks a happy occasion—the day on which we receive our new initiates, who will work with us toward a better society and a better world."

A round of applause. It sounded muffled. The Yosen leader read the first names, but Taiga could not tell one syllable from the other, he was too occupied by his thought. One by one, each sixteen-year-old stepped out of line and walked to the middle of the room. The first girl to choose decided on Shuutoku, the same faction from which she came. Taiga watched her blood droplets fell on soil, and she stood behind their seats alone.

The room was constantly moving, a new name and a new person choosing, a new knife and a new choice. Taiga recognized most of them, but he doubt they know him.

"Hayakawa Mitsuhiro," Masako called.

Hayakawa Mitsuhiro of the Seirin was the first person to stumble on his way to the bowls. He threw his arms out and regained his balance before hitting the floor. He chuckled sheepishly, red faced, and walked fast to the middle of the room. When he stood in the center, he looked from the Seirin bowl to the Kaijou bowl—the orange flames that rise higher each moment, and the glass reflecting blue light.

Araki offered him the knife. Mitsuhiro breathed deeply and, as he exhaled, accepted the knife. Then he dragged it across his palm with a jerk and held his arm out to the side. His blood fell onto glass, and he was the first of the new initiates to switch factions. The first faction transfer. A mutter rose from the Seirin section, and Taiga twitched by it.

They would see Hayakawa as a traitor from now on. His Seirin family would have the option of visiting him in his new faction, a week and a half from now on Visiting Day, but they wouldn't, because he left them. His absence would haunt their hallways, and he would be a space they could not fill. And then time will passed, and the hole would be gone, like when an organ was removed and the body's fluids flowed into the space it left. Humans could not tolerate emptiness for long.

"Himuro Tatsuya," said the leader.

Tatsuya squeezed Taiga's hand one last time, and as he walked away, casted a long look at his brother over his shoulder. Taiga watched Tatsuya's feet move to the center of the room, and his brother's hands, steady as they accepted the knife from Araki, were deft as one pressed the knife into the other. Then he stood with blood pooling in his palm, and his lip snagged on his teeth.

Tatsuya breathed out. And then in. And then he held his hand over the Rakuzan bowl, and his blood dripped into the water, turning it a deeper shade of red.

Taiga stared agape in bewilderment at that.

The outraged cries instantly echoed around the room. Taiga could barely think straight. His brother, his selfless brother, a faction transfer? His brother, born for Yosen, was a Rakuzan?

Suddenly something clicked inside his mind. He remembered he saw the stack of books on Tatsuya's desk, and how his brother's shaking hands sliding along his legs after the aptitude test.

Why he did not realize that?

He scanned the crowd of the Rakuzan, gritting his teeth when he saw they wore smug smiles and nudged each other. The Yosen, normally so placid, spoke to one another in tense whispers and glared across the room at the faction that had become their enemy.

"Excuse me," Masako said, but the crowd did not hear her. "Quiet, please!" she shouted.

The room went silent. Except for a ringing sound.

Taiga flinched when he heard his name was being called. He inhaled deeply, trying to calm his beating heart. He stood, making sure to look confident, and walked forward. Halfway to the bowls, he was sure that he would choose Yosen. He could see it now. He watched himself grew into a man in Yosen robes, marrying a cute girl from the same faction, volunteering on the weekends, the peace of routine, the quite nights spent in front of the fireplace, the certainty that he would be safe, and if not good enough, better than he was now.

But he knew well that was not himself anymore.

He looked at Tatsuya, who now stood behind the Rakuzan. His brother stared back at him and nodded a little, like he knew what Taiga's thinking, and agreed. Taiga's footstep faltered. If Tatsuya was not fit for Yosen, then how could Taiga be? But what choice did he have? Maybe he did not seem like it, but Taiga was very loyal and loved his family so much. He did not want to leave his parents alone. Now that Tatsuya left them, Taiga was the only one who could remain. His brother left him no other choice.

He set his jaw. He would be the child that stayed. He had to do this for his parents. He had to.

The leader offered him the knife. He looked into Araki's black eyes and took it. She nodded, and Taiga turned toward the bowls. Seirin fire and Yosen stones were both on his left. He held the knife in his right hand and touched the blade to his palm. Gritting his teeth, he dragged the blade down. It stung, but Taiga barely noticed. He held both hands to his chest, and his next breath shuddered on the way out.

He opened his eyes, and thrust his arm out. His blood dripped onto the carpet between the two bowls. Then, with a gasp he could not contain, he shifted his hand forward, and his blood sizzled on the coals.

He was selfish. He was brave.

 

* * *

 

He stood behind the Seirin-born initiates who chose to return to their own faction. When the last girl makes her choice—a Shuutoku—it was time to leave. The Seirin exited first. He walked past the purple-clothed men and women who were once his faction, staring determinedly at the back of someone's head.

But he had to see his parents one more time. He looked over his shoulder at the last second before he passed them, and immediately wish he hadn't. His father's eyes burned into his with a look of accusation. At first, when he felt the heat behind his eyes, he thought his father was found a way to set him on fire, to punish him for what he had done.

Beside Father, his mother was smiling.

Taiga snapped back from his thought when he felt someone shoved his back, pressed him forward away from his family. He twisted his head around to find Tatsuya in the crowd of Rakuzan behind him. The black haired stood among the other initiates, shaking hands with a faction transfer, a boy who was Kaijou. The easy smile he wore was like an act of betrayal for Taiga. The red head's stomach wrenched and he turned away. If it was so easy for his brother, maybe it should be easy for him too.

He glanced at the boy to his left, who was once a Rakuzan and now looked as pale and nervous as he should feel. Oh right, he now realized that he spent all his time worrying about which faction he would choose and never considered what would happen if he chose Seirin. He was indeed a  _baka_. What waited for him at Seirin headquarter?

Damn.

The crowd of Seirin leading them went to the stairs instead of the elevators. He groaned slightly, he always thought only Yosen that used the stairs. Apparently he was wrong.

Then everyone started running. He heard whoops and shouts and laughter all around him, and dozens of thundering feet moving at different rhythms. He blinked, before grinned widely. Interesting, it was not a selfless act for the Seirin to take the stairs. It was a wild act.

"What the hell is going on?!" the boy next to him shouted.

Taiga just shook his head and kept running. He was breathless when they reach the first floor, and the Seirin burst through the exit. Outside, the air was crisp and cold and the sky was orange from the setting sun. It reflected off the black glass of the Hub.

The Seirin sprawled across the street, blocking the path of a bus, and Taiga sprint to catch up to the back of the crowd. His confusion dissipated as he ran. It was fortunate that he always –stubbornly- kept his condition fit, or he was dying already with the ache on his muscles. He followed the Seirin down the street and around the corner and heard a familiar sound: the train horn.

"Oh no," mumbled a Shuutoku boy. "Are we supposed to hop on that thing?"

"Yes," Taiga said, breathless.

It was good that he spent so much time watching the Seirin arrive at school. The crowd spread out in a long line. The train glided toward them on steel rails, its light flashing, its horn blaring. The door of each car was open, waiting for the Seirin to pile in, and they do, group by group, until only the new initiates were left. The Seirin-born initiates were used to doing this by now, so in a second it's just faction transfers left.

Taiga stepped forward with a few others and start jogging. They ran with the car for a few steps and then throw themselves sideways. He was also doing that too, that's it, until he slipped and fell outside. He clung to a handle next to the doorway, his shoulder slamming into the car. His arms shook, and finally a Kaijou boy grabbed him and pulled him in. Gasping, he thanked him.

He heard a shout and look over his shoulder. A short, Rakuzan boy with black hair pumped his arms as he tried to catch up to the train. A Rakuzan girl by the door reached out to grab the boy's hand, straining, but he was too far behind. He fell to his knees next to the tracks as we sail away, and put his head in his hands.

Taiga felt uneasy. The boy just failed Seirin initiation. He was factionless now. It could happen at any moment.

"You all right?" the Kaijou boy who helped him asked briskly. He was tall, not as tall as him, with short brown hair.

Taiga nodded his head. "Yeah, thanks to you."

"I'm Furihata Kouki," the boy said, offering him his hand.

Taiga had not shaken a hand in a long time either. The Yosen greeted one another by bowing heads, a sign of respect. He took his hand, uncertainly, and shook it twice, hoping he did not squeeze too hard or not hard enough.

"Himuro Taiga," he said.

"Do you know where we're going?" Kouki had to shout over the wind, which blows harder through the open doors by the second.

The train was picking up speed. Taiga sat down. It would be easier to keep his balance if he was low to the ground. Kouki raised an eyebrow at him.

"A fast train means wind," Taiga said. "And wind means falling out. You better get down."

Kouki sat next to him, inching back to lean against the wall.

"I guess we're going to Seirin headquarters," Taiga said. "But I don't know where that is."

Kouki cocked his eyebrow. "Does anyone?" he shook his head. "It's like they just popped out of a hole in the ground or something."

Then the wind rushed through the car, and the other faction transfers, hit with bursts of air, fall on top of one another. Taiga watched Kouki laugh without hearing him and manage a smile. Over his left shoulder, orange light from the setting sun reflected off the glass building, and he could faintly saw the rows of gray houses that used to be his home.

He still could not believe that Tatsuya chose Rakuzan. What a good actor he was. Neither Taiga or their parents noticed Rakuzan traits in Tatsuya's demeanor and behavior. He could imagine what will their parents discover when they cleaned up his brother's room. He imagined books jammed between the dresser and the wall, books under the mattress. The Rakuzan thirst for knowledge filling all the hidden places in Tatsuya's room. Did his brother always know that he would choose Rakuzan?

"They're jumping off!"

The shout startled him back to the reality. He lifted his head, cracking his ache neck. The train had slowed down in the past few minutes, and he saw that the boy who shouted was right. The Seirin in the cars ahead of them were jumping out as the train passed a rooftop. His eyes bulged in disbelief and awe. They jumped like this was nothing, like leaping out of a moving train onto a rooftop with a few meters gap between the edge of the roof and the edge of the track was an everyday stuff.

"We have to jump off too, then!" A bald, Kaijou boy said.

"Great," another Kaijou boy replied. "Because that makes sense, Kawahara. Leap off a train onto a roof."

"This is kind of what we signed up, Fukuda," Kawahara pointed out.

"We-Well, you've got to, whether you want or not, or you will fail." Kouki said. Taiga silently gave him a thumb up for his braveness, though he could see the brunette boy trembled in fright.

Fukuda scratched the back of his head nervously. "Okay… how about in three?" he asked.

Taiga, Kouki, and Kawahara, glanced at each other for a moment, before nodded.

They stood at the edge of the car. As it passed the roof, Taiga counted, "One."

Kouki gulped. "Two."

"Three!" they shouted together, launching off the train car. Taiga felt weightless for a moment, and then his feet slammed into solid ground and pain prickled through his shins. The jarring landing sent him sprawling on the rooftop, gravel under his cheek. He laughed, saw Kouki released his grip onto Fukuda's hand.

"That was fun!" Taiga said, earning a weird look from the three others.

"You're crazy," Kouki said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I think he will do very well in Seirin, like a duck in water." Kawahara commented, wincing while holding his ankle.

Then Taiga heard a wail. He turned his head, searching for the source of the sound. A Seirin girl stood at the edge of the roof, staring at the ground below, screaming. Behind her a Seirin boy held her at the waist to keep her from falling off.

"Riku," he said. "Riku, calm down. Riku-"

Taiga stood and look over the edge. There was a body on the pavement below them. A girl. Her arms and legs bent at awkward angles, her hair spread in a fan around her head. His stomach sank and he stared at the railroad tracks. Not everyone made it. And even the Seirin were not safe.

He turned away. The longer he watched her, the more likely he was going to sick. He flinched when his elbow stung. He pulled his sleeve up to examine it. Some his skin was peeling off, but it was not bleeding.

"Ooh!  _Scandalous!_  A stiff's flashing some skin!"

He snapped his neck toward where the sound coming from. "Stiff" was slang for Yosen, and he was the only one here. A grey haired Rakuzan boy pointed at him, smirking. He twitched in annoyed when he heard laughter. So what if he flashed some skin? He was not Yosen anymore!

He was about to retort when a shout echoed.

"Listen up! My name is Aida Riko! I am one of the leaders of your new faction!" shouted a woman at the other end of the roof. She was older than the others, brown haired, and she stood on the ledge like it was a sidewalk. Like someone did not just fall to her death from it. "Several stories below us is the members' entrance to our compound. If you can't muster the will to jump off, you don't belong here. Our initiates have the privilege of going first."

"You want us to jump off a  _ledge_?" asked a Rakuzan girl. She was a few inches shorter than him, with pink hair and big boobs. Her mouth hanged open.

He did not know why it shocked her.

"Yes," Riko said. She looked amused.

"Is there water at the bottom or something?"

"Who knows?" She raised her eyebrows.

The crowd in front of the initiates split in half, making a wide path for us. He looked around. No one looked eager to leap off the building—their eyes are everywhere but on Riko. Some of them nursed minor wounds or brushed gravel from their clothes. He glanced at the Rakuzan boy who was mocked him. He was picking at one of his cuticles. Trying to act casual.

Taiga was proud. It would get him into trouble someday, but today it made him brave. He walked toward the ledge and heard snickers behind him. Riko stepped aside, leaving his way clear. He walked up to the edge and looked down. Wind whipped through his clothes, making the fabric snap. The building he was on forms one side of a square with three other buildings. In the center of the square was a huge hole in the concrete. He could not see what was at the bottom of it.

Damn… it was scarier than he thought.

This was a scare tactic. He would land safely at the bottom. That knowledge was the only thing that helped him stepped onto the ledge. He gritted his teeth. He could not back down now. Not with all the people betting he would fail behind him. His hands fumbled along the collar of his shirt and find the button that secured it shut. After a few tries, he undo the hooks from collar to hem, and pull it off his shoulders.

Beneath it, he wore a dark purple T-shirt. It was tighter than any other clothes he own, and no one had ever seen him in it before. He balled up his outer shirt and looked over his shoulder, at the grey haired Rakuzan boy. He threw the ball of fabric at him as hard as he could, his jaw clenched. It hit him in the chest. The boy stared at him. Taiga heard catcalls and shouted behind him.

He looked at the hole again. Goose bumps rose on his brown-skinned arms, and his stomach lurched. He decided to not think, just bend his knees and jumped.

The air howled in his ears as the ground surged toward him, growing and expanding, or he surged toward the ground, his heart pounding so fast it hurts, every muscle in his body tensing as the falling sensation dragged at his stomach. The hole surrounded him and he dropped into darkness.

He hit something hard. It gave way beneath him and cradled his body. The impact knocked the wind out of him and he wheezed, struggling to breathe again. His arms and legs stung.

A net. There was a net at the bottom of the hole. He looked up at the building and laugh, half relieved and half hysterical. His body shakes and he covered his face with his hands. Damn, that was thrilling! He just jumped off a roof!

He crawled to the edge of the net. He just about to step down on solid ground, when a voice was heard.

"Are you okay?"

He blinked, lifting his head slowly, saw someone stood right in front of him with a hand stretching out.

His eyes bulged.

"GYAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed, scurrying backward in surprise. "Since when you've been here?!"

"Since the beginning," said the boy in front of him flatly, making him unnerved.

He heard chuckles and laughs all around him. There was also someone whistling.

"Damn, Phantom! You're awesome! I almost think this dude fearless! He never screamed when he jumped off the roof! You only stand there and you managed to scare him off!" Someone at the back laughed, clutching his stomach.

"You lost. Pay up!" A purple haired girl spoke, holding out her hand toward a boy beside her.

"Damn it!" the boy cursed, pulling out his wallet.

Taiga twitched in annoyed. These guys made wager upon his misery?! What the heck?! He turned his head to the one who managed scare him senseless. The boy was short, his hair and eyes were as blue as sky with transfluence white skin. He looked so weak, did not look like someone who belonged to Seirin. But if he was indeed in Seirin, then he must be stronger than Taiga thought.

Taiga saw the boy's hand still stretching out to him. He sighed, grabbing the hand to pull himself across the net. He rolled off, and landed smoothly to the ground.

"Thanks," he said.

The boy gave him a small smile, and nodded. "You are welcome."

Taiga looked around, noticing that they stood on a platform ten feet above the ground. Around them was an open cavern.

"Can't believe it," a voice said from behind the boy. It belonged to a black-haired man in spectacles with crafty face. The man smirked at him. "A Stiff, the first to jump? Unheard of."

"There's a reason why he left them, Imayoshi-san," the teal haired boy said, before turned back to him. "What's your name?"

Taiga blinked. "Err…?" he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Weren't they already had his file?

"You can choose what you want to be named," the boy said, back expressionless. "Think carefully about it. You don't get to pick again."

Taiga opened his mouth to answer, but his breath suddenly caught and closed his mouth. He scratched the back of his head. He did not know why he hesitated. But 'Himuro Taiga' just did not sound right anymore for him. He blinked, his mind whirled in thought. This boy said he could pick any name he like, right? If that so…

A new place, a new name.

He could be remade here.

"Kagami…" he trailed softly. "Kagami Taiga," he continued, more loudly and firmly.

"Kagami Taiga, hm?" Imayoshi repeated, grinning. "Are you sure?" he asked with his fox-sly smile. Taiga nodded, felt uneasy by the smile. "Then, make the announcement, Phantom."

The boy –apparently named Phantom- just looked over his shoulder. He pulled out a loudspeaker from nowhere -making Taiga jumped in puzzlement- and shouted. "First jumper! Kagami Taiga!"

A crowd materialized from the darkness as Taiga's eyes adjust. They cheered and pumped their fists, and then another person dropped into the net. His screams followed him down. It was Kouki. Everyone laughed, but they followed their laughter with more cheering.

Phantom pat Taiga's shoulder. "Welcome to Seirin, Kagami-kun."

And Taiga could not ask more.

 

* * *

 

When all the initiates stood on solid ground again, Imayoshi and Phantom led them down a narrow tunnel. The walls were made of stone, and the ceiling slopes, so Taiga felt like he was descending deep into the heart of the earth. The tunnel was lit at long intervals, so in the dark space between each dim lamp, he feared that he was lost until a shoulder bumped his.

The Rakuzan boy in front of him stopped abruptly, and he smacked into him, hitting his nose on the back of his head. Taiga stumbled back and rubbed his nose as he recovered his senses. The whole crowd had stopped, and their three leaders stood in front of them, arms folded.

"This is where we divide," Imayoshi said. "The Seirin-born initiates are with me. I assume you don't need a tour of the place."

He smiled and beckoned toward the Seirin-born initiates. They broke away from the group and dissolved into the shadows. Taiga watched the last heel passed out of the light and looked at those of them who were left. Most of the initiates were from Seirin, so only nine people remain. Of those, Taiga was the only Yosen transfer, and there were no Shuutoku transfers. The rest are from Rakuzan and, surprisingly, Kaijou. It must require bravery to be honest all the time. He wouldn't know.

Phantom addressed them next. "Most of the time I work in the control room, but for the next few weeks, I am one of your instructors." he said with no expression or intonation. "My name is Phantom."

Kouki blinked. "Phantom? Like… shadow?"

"Yes," Phantom said. "Is there a problem?"

"No."

"Good. We're about to go into the Pit, which you will someday learn to love. It-"

The grey haired Rakuzan boy snickered. "The Pit? Clever name."

Phantom paused, walking up to the boy and stopped right in front of him. There was only few centimeters between both of them. His face still unexpressive, but Taiga could see his azure eyes narrowed in annoyed as he kept stared at the boy.

"Wh-what?" the boy sneered, unconsciously took a step back.

"What's your name?" Phantom asked quietly.

"Haizaki Shougo. What is it, shorty?" the boy spat, glaring at the teal haired.

"Well, Haizaki-kun, if I wanted to put up with Rakuzan smart-mouths, I would have joined their faction." Phantom said bluntly. "This is the first lesson you will learn from me; keep your mouth shut. Got that?"

Taiga stared at the instructor in awe.

Shougo sneered.

"Don't give me that look, Haizaki-kun. It's for your sake." Phantom continued. "You're lucky it's me who you've said that. If it's the other instructors, moreover the leaders, you would be…"

Phantom did not need to clarify the continuance as Taiga was sure everyone understood the threat behind his words.

Without waiting answer from the grey haired, Phantom started walking toward the shadow at the end of the tunnel. The crowd of initiates moved on in silence.

Taiga frowned at his back. It would probably wise to be careful around Phantom. The teal haired seemed placid and weak, like he could not even hurt anyone, but something about that stillness made Taiga wary now.

Phantom pushed a set of double doors open, and they walked into the place he called "the Pit".

A whistle was heard from Fukuda. "Woah," he whispered. "Now, I get it why it called 'the Pit'."

"Pit" was the best word for it. It was an underground cavern so huge Taiga could not see the other end of it from where he stood, at the bottom. Uneven rock walls arose several stories above his head. Built into the stone walls were places for food, clothing, supplies, leisure activities. Narrow paths and steps carved from rock connect them. There were no barriers to keep people from falling over the side.

A slant of orange light stretched across one of the rock walls. Forming the roof of the Pit were panes of glass and, above them, a building that let in sunlight. It must have looked like just another city building when they passed it on the train. Blue lanterns dangled at random intervals above the stone paths, similar to the ones that lit the Choosing room. They grew brighter as the sunlight dies.

People were everywhere, all dressed in black, all shouting and talking, expressive, gesturing. Taiga did not see any elderly people in the crowd. Were there any old Seirin? Did they not last that long, or were they just sent away when they could not jump off moving trains anymore?

A group of children ran down a narrow path with no railing, so fast his heart pounded, and he wanted to scream at them to slow down before they get hurt. A memory of the orderly Yosen streets appeared in his mind: a line of people on the right passing a line of people on the left, small smiles and inclined heads and silence. His stomach squeezed. But there is something wonderful about Seirin chaos.

"If you follow me," Phantom said. "I'll show you the chasm."

He waved us forward. Phantom's appearance seemed tame –much tamer even– from the front, by Seirin standards, but when he turned around, Taiga saw a tattoo peeking out from the collar of his T-shirt. He led us to the right side of the Pit, which was conspicuously dark. Taiga squinted and saw that the floor he stood on now ends at an iron barrier. As they approached the railing, he heard a roar —water, fast-moving water, crashing against rocks.

He looked over the side. The floor dropped off at a sharp angle, and several stories below them was a river. Gushing water struck the wall beneath him and sprayed upward. To his left, the water was calmer, but to his right, it was white, battling with rock.

"The chasm reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy." Phantom said calmly. "A daredevil jump off this ledge will end your life. It has happened before and it will happen again. You've been warned."

"This is incredible," Kouki said, as he and other initiates all move away from the railing.

"Incredible is the word," Taiga said, nodding.

Phantom led the group of initiates across the Pit toward a gaping hole in the wall. The room beyond was well-lit enough that Taiga could see where they were going: a dining hall full of people and clattering silverware. When they walked in, the Seirin inside stood. They applauded. They stamped their feet. They shouted. The noise surrounded him and filled him. He saw Kouki smiled, and a second later, so do him.

They looked for empty seats. Kouki and he discovered a mostly empty table at the side of the room, and Taiga found himself sitting between the brunette and Phantom. In the center of the table was a platter of food he did not recognize: circular pieces of meat wedged between round bread slices. He pinched one between his fingers, unsure what to make of it.

Phantom nudged him with his elbow.

"It's hamburger," he said, and saw Taiga's look of confusion. "A beef. Put this on it." He passed him a small bowl full of red sauce.

Kawahara –who sat across Taiga– gawked at the red head. "You've never had a hamburger before?" he asked in disbelief, his eyes wide.

Taiga scratched his cheek nervously. "Err… no," he said. "Is that what it's called?"

"Unbelievable…" Fukuda and Kouki said, jaw dropping.

"Stiffs eat plain food," Phantom said, taking a glass of vanilla milkshake from tumbler.

"Why?" Kouki asked.

Taiga shrugged. "Extravagance is considered self-indulgent and unnecessary."

Fukuda smirked. "No wonder you left."

"Yeah right," Taiga said, rolling his eyes. "It was just because of the food."

The corner of Phantom's mouth twitched.

The door of the cafeteria opened. A hush suddenly fell over the room. Taiga looked over his shoulder. A young man walked in, and it was quite enough that he could hear his footsteps. The man's skin was tanned, and his hair was navy blue. He looked menacing and intimidating with the coldness of his eyes as they swept across the room.

Taiga's animal instinct flared.

"Who's that?" Taiga growled softly.

Phantom glanced at him. "His name is Aomine Daiki," he said calmly, his mouth did not part from the straw. "He's a Seirin leader."

Taiga blinked. "Seriously? He looked about my age!"

Phantom grimaced. "Age doesn't matter for  _them_."

Taiga wanted to ask:  _Who's them?_  But Daiki's eyes stopped scanning the room, and he started walking toward a table.  _Their_  table to be precise, and dropped onto the seat next to Phantom. He offered no greeting, and so neither did Taiga.

"I can't believe you still drink that crap, Tetsu?" Daiki said as he grabbed the glass from Phantom's hand and drank the content. "Blergh! Still suck like ever! Milkshake from cafeteria is the worst!"

"Maji closed today," Phantom answered, taking back his glass gently. "And what have I told you about calling me that?"

"Phantom is too mouthful, I prefer 'Tetsu'."

Taiga stared at them. So, Phantom was indeed a  _new_  name like his 'Kagami'? And 'Tetsu'? Is it the teal haired's real name or something?

"Well, aren't you going to introduce me?" Daiki asked, nodding to Taiga and the others.

Phantom sipped the milkshake. "Across of me is Fukuda-kun, and beside him is Kawahara-kun," he said. "The red haired is Kagami-kun, and beside him is Furihata-kun."

"Ooh, is he the Stiff they're talking about!?" Daiki said, smirking at Taiga. His tone sounded like he was mocked him. "We'll see how long you last."

Taiga twitched, silently growled.

Daiki tapped his fingers against the table. His knuckles were scabbed over, right where they would split if he punched something too hard.

"What have you been doing lately, Tetsu?" he asked.

Phantom hummed. "Nothing, really," he said.

Are they friends? Taiga's eyes flicked between Daiki and Phantom. Everything Daiki did —sitting here, asking about Phantom— suggested that they were, but the way Phantom sat, tense as pulled wire, suggested they were something else. Rivals, maybe, but how could that be, if Daiki was a leader and Phantom was not?

"Harasawa tells me he keeps trying to meet with you, and you don't show up," Daiki said. "He requested that I find out what's going on with you."

Phantom looked at Daiki for a few seconds. "Tell him that I am satisfied with the position I currently hold."

"So he wants to give you a job."

Daiki leaned back and threw his arm around Phantom's shoulder. Maybe Daiki perceived Phantom as a potential threat to his position. Taiga noted. His father said that those who want power and get it live in terror of losing it. That was why they had to give power to those who did not want it.

"So it would seem," Phantom said.

"And you aren't interested."

"I haven't been interested for two years."

"Well," Daiki hummed. "Let's hope he gets the point, then."

He clapped Phantom on the shoulder, a little too hard, and got up. When he walked away, Taiga slouched immediately. He had not realized that he was so tense.

"So… are you two friends?" Taiga asked Phantom, unable to contain his curiosity.

"We were in the same initiate class," Phantom said. "He transferred from Rakuzan."

Ergh? That ganguro was a Rakuzan once? He certainly did not look like one! Taiga's eyes bulged in disbelief.

"Um… excuse me," Kouki's voice startled him. "That man… is he Aomine Daiki from Generation of Miracles?"

The silence between them was oppressive.

"…Yes, he is." Phantom replied finally, breaking the silence.

"Yes! I knew it!" Kouki exclaimed in awe. "I don't believe it! I saw a legend in person!"

"Really?! That's one of Generation of Miracles just now?!" Fukuda and Kawahara gasped with bulged eyes.

Phantom nodded.

Taiga furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What's Generation of Miracles?" he asked bluntly.

And when he heard his new friends gasped out loud and stared at him like he was an alien, he instantly felt regret for asked about it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Aomine Daiki appears! The Baka#1 and the Baka#2 finally met! Please tell me, is he out of character?
> 
> For you who didn't know why Imayoshi, Aomine, and Harasawa are in Seirin, it's because there's no To'ou in this fic. So, I make To'ou group joined Seirin (because their nature is similiar). And the same for Haizaki, Fukuda Shougo are also joining Seirin.
> 
> Why Tatsuya chose Rakuzan? Because I think Tatsuya more suitable in Rakuzan. The black hearted mirage with the crafty black hearted emperor. At first I intended to also entering Imayoshi into Rakuzan, but the thought of added one sly black hearted person into a faction that already had many black hearted people… especially when I want to make Kirisaki Daichi group joining Rakuzan... their schemes… it made me shivered.


End file.
